MS XP SP2 Windows Security Center allows spoofing

["Jérôme" ATHIAS <jerome.athias () caramail com>]

Hi,

i found some interesting news about the WSC of the SP2 here :
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1639276,00.asp

Summary:

The Windows Security Center displays informations about Firewall, Updates, Antivirus... ans stores them in an internal 
database managed by the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) subsystem built into Windows.

Due to the nature of WMI, the WSC could potentially allow attackers to spoof the state of security on a user's system.

For Windows XP Service Pack 2, Microsoft added new fields or records to keep track of the Firewall and Antivirus 
information in the WMI database.

The WMI database is designed to be accessible via the WBEM API and is available to any program that wants to access the 
WMI. Because the WMI database is not set to be a read-only file, an attacking program could simply change the disabled 
product's status to "up-to-date" and "enabled" to avoid suspicion.

About that Microsoft responds:

"In SP2, we added functionality to reduce the likelihood of unknown/devious applications running on a user's system, 
including turning Windows Firewall on by default, data execution prevention, attachment execution services to name a 
few. To spoof the Windows Security Center WMI would require system-level access to a PC. If the user downloads and runs 
an application that would allow for spoofing of Windows Security Center, they have already opened the door for the 
hacker to do what they want. In addition, if malware is already on the system, it does not need to monitor WSC to 
determine a vulnerable point of attack, it can simply shut down any firewall or AV service then attack – no WSC is 
necessary."

"Windows Security Center, found in the Windows XP Control panel, provides customers the ability and makes it easier to 
check the status of these essential security functionalities such as firewalls, automatic updates and antivirus. 
Windows Security Center will inform users whether key security capabilities are turned on and up to date and will 
notify users if it appears that updates need to be made or if additional action steps may need to be taken to help them 
get more secure." 

YES it requires Administrative privileges to run a malware script...
YES it requires to access the HD of the target to run a malware script...

So if you don't want call that vulnerability, use the word flaw...

Regards.